Heres a custody story in local headlines "triplets"

[rini]

In wealthy Kirtland, Ohio, the contested surrogate triplets are called Lane, Easton and Shane Flynn when visiting their biological father, James Flynn, at his $600,000 home.


 
   


  Previous article
Egg donor enters battle for custody of triplets (7/7/04)


   
   

 


In rural Corry, Erie County, they are Matthew, Mark and Micah Bimber when with their surrogate mother, Danielle Bimber, in her $85,000 ranch home.

Yesterday the two families seeking custody of the three boys argued the value of names, affluence and parenting skills. Their disputes since the boys were born Nov. 19 to Bimber under contract with Flynn played out before Erie County Common Pleas Judge Shad Connelly.

Earlier, Connelly named Bimber, 30, the babies' legal mother, though she has no genetic connection to them. He gave her temporary custody. Now Connelly must decide who gets permanent custody. The hearing will continue later this month.

Flynn, 62, wants exclusive custody of the boys. He said he and his fiancee, Eileen Donich, 60, tried several years ago to have a baby of their own, including fertility treatments, and when that was unsuccessful, turned to surrogacy. He provided the sperm, paid a Texas woman for her eggs and gave Bimber $20,000 to carry the resulting embryos.

He said during the hearing he would do anything to get the babies from Bimber. "The person who has them now has no connection at all. We paid her."

The egg donor has filed suit as well in Ohio in an attempt to obtain parental rights to the babies. It remains unclear what would happen if the Ohio court's decision conflicts with Connelly's. Connelly earlier rejected the possibility that the egg donor could serve as a parent because she hadn't sought rights in his court.

Bimber said she wanted the money from the surrogacy contract for her three older children's education and that she intended to turn the babies over to Flynn. But when he visited them only once during the week they were in the hospital and neglected to obtain the legal papers necessary for the hospital to turn them over to him, she took them home.

In an earlier proceeding Connelly granted Flynn and Donich visits with the babies, including four-day spans.

Flynn was ordered to pay child support of $25,000 a year. His lawyer suggested that money was the real motivation for Bimber's request to retain primary physical custody.

Bimber, who acknowledged filing for personal bankruptcy last year, said during a break in the hearing, "As far as money goes, it is money. It is not love." She contended that Flynn and Donich haven't purchased normal baby accessories and returned the children unbathed and with untreated diaper rash. "I don't think these people should have kids," Bimber told reporters.

Flynn and Donich declined comment.

During the hearing, their lawyer, Melissa H. Shirey, accentuated the class differences.

Flynn, who has a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley in statistics, is a professor and department head at Cleveland State University, earning more than $136,000 a year. Donich, a retired dentist, owns the 6,000-square-foot home where they live. Flynn also maintains an apartment for himself a few minutes from his campus office.

Donich, a widow, said both of her children from the earlier marriage are physicians. "I made them superstars," she told the court. And, later, she said she plans to do the same with the triplets: "They are going to be superstars."

Flynn derided the Corry area as depressed and said its schools would be, as a result, underfunded and underachieving. Kirtland schools, where the boys would go if they lived with him and Donich, are among the best in Ohio.

Neither Bimber has a college degree. She worked as an exercise instructor at a Curves salon, earning $11,000 a year, before she was bedridden during pregnancy with the triplets. Her husband, Douglas, earns about $9,160 a year as an appliance repairman. She has two children from her first marriage and a child with Bimber. So with the triplets, there are eight people living in her 2,200-square-foot ranch.

Still, Bimber told the court she has been able to provide the triplets with car seats, cribs, strollers, bouncers, high chairs, toys, clothes and satisfy their every need. She said she may not have much money, but is willing to spend it on the children. All of the money she got under the surrogacy contract, she said she has spent on the babies.

She questioned the care the babies receive from Flynn and Donich, and they tried to impeach her mothering abilities.

Flynn told the court, "The last year has been the most horrible period of my life ... It is very wrenching because I do not think the children have been taken care of."

He and Donich contended that the children wheeze because of cat hair and dust in Bimber's home.

Also, Donich charged that each of the babies loses a pound every time they are in Bimber's care. Donich said she's able to fatten them up by a pound in the four days she has them.

The allegations were disputed by the Bimbers' family physician, Dr. Kurt Lund. He said the triplets are growing and gaining weight normally. He also said wheezing suffered by the two boys was a result of a virus and not allergies.

Bimber testified at length about how she cares for the babies and the difference in their personalities. She has served as their primary caretaker since they were born. Bimber's lawyer asked, since she has no biological connection to them, what she was to them.

Nose red, and crying, she said, "I am their mom."

The hearing, which was opened to the public because of an appeal by the Erie Times-News, is scheduled to continue with additional testimony from Bimber on July 29.



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(Barbara White Stack can be reached at [email protected] or 412-263-1878.)

[stressedstepmom]

Wow, what a mess this case is! One one hand you have a 62 yr old man who if I read correctly paid for a strangers eggs and then paid a surrogate to carry the babies. On the other hand you have a woman who is being made out to only want the babies for the money. The father is the only one who is biological. But he and his fiance are in their 60s. So logically you would think the babies would go to their father and that the surrogate would have no place in their lives. But what if the father and his fianace die (I know 60s isnt ancient in this day and age but still) close together and while these children are still minors? Then they are orphans. I can't believe that the woman got custody of them in the first place and I am also disturbed by the fiances comments that her older kids are "superstars" and she will make the triplets the same. If these 2 wanted kids so bad with their age and all, why didn't they just adopt some? Money obviously isn't an issue for them and they could have made a big difference in some child's life. As of now IMO they are setting these poor triplets up for a future of pain and suffering no matter what the outcome.